A while back, Jerry posted a great link to Chip Ellis’ site in a thread about the spear set. Has anyone checked it out lately? There is a newly added pdf file compiling the photos of Dong Yingjie’s form, from his 1948 book. The photos are quite clear, and it’s a very nice document to have.

Yes, in fact Dong's book names it "shan tong bi," instead of "shan tong bei" -- "arm" instead of "back." I've seen other variants of this form name.

There are a number of spots in this Red Book document where the form name translations don't quite match up with the Chinese text. There are also some interesting English names that may reflect some oral transmissions different from the names that became more standardized. For example, check out the name, "two birds flying" beginning the Lan Que Wei sequence (fig. 26.1) after "Shangbu Banlanchui," and "Dump the Bucket" (fig. 12.1-12.3) for another Banlanchui sequence. Then there's "Fist by Waist" for "Pie shen chui" (Fig. 24.1). By the way, I particularly like the spirit of that posture exhibited by Dong. Other ones I like are his Roll Back (fig. 3.5), and the beginning of his Single Whip transition (fig. 4.1).

I've noticed that "Preparatory Posture" was translated as "Wuji Posture", and that is quite understandable, because the next posture is named "Beginning of Taiji" in this book. It caused me to question myself whether I ever met "Wuji" name in any authentic book of Yang style and I couldn't remember one. I'll appreciate if someone can indicate me the book in Yang tradition with such name for the first posture and adequate explanation of its implication.

T.Y Pang studied with Dong Yingjie in Hong Kong, and he says that Dong understood Cantonese, but was more comfortable with Mandarin. I checked his book, “On Tai Chi Chuan,” last night, and he lists two alternate names for the posture, one with “mountain,” and one with “fan.” Both versions Pang cites have the character for “arm” (bi) rather than “back” (bei). Yang Chengfu’s book has “back,” and the form narrative specifically addresses the jin issuing from the back and “fanning through the back.” The character for arm does have an alternate pronunciation, “bei,” and as you mention, “mountain,” and “fan” are homophones in Mandarin, so these alternate names are not surprising. I think I’ve seen several versions of this form name.

I agree that most Yang-style books do not refer to the preparatory posture as Wuji, but it may be that the term endured in oral tradition. Sun Lutang, as you know, did explicitly use the term in his book for the standing-in-stillness that precedes the initial movements. I think he named it “wuji xue”—Study of Wuji.

The numbers correspond to pictures in Tung Ying Chieh's 1948 Red Book. Some of the names given in that .pdf are in brackets. Notice that I use "Draw Back" where you use "Roll Back" and I use "Roll Back" for the movement before "Push."

Here are a few more findings on the form name ¡°Fan Through Back.¡± ÉÈÍ¨±³

¡°Arm,¡± or ¡°Back?¡±

There¡¯s a possibility that Dong Yingjie may have had something to do with the variant form using ¡°arm¡± (±Û bi, bei), instead of ¡°back¡± (±³ bei). For example, Yang Chengfu¡¯s 1931 book, _Taijiquan Shiyongfa_, used the ¡°arm¡± character. It is said that Dong Yingjie played the primary role in compiling and editing that book. I also see, however, that the first of the set of documents¡ªsaid to have been transmitted by Yang Banhou, ¡°Taijiquan jiu jue,¡± a text called ¡°Quan ti da yong jue¡± (greater application of the entire body) used the ¡°arm¡± character. (See Yang Zhenduo¡¯s book, Zhongguo Yang Shi Taiji, p. 19.) That short text is interesting for the fact that it inventories the major posture names and applications in a short formulaic presentation. The provenance of that text is not crystal clear, but if indeed it came from Banhou, that would make it a very early indicator of the posture names in the Yang tradition.

Xu Yusheng¡¯s 1921 book, -_Taijiquan shi tujie_, used the ¡°back¡± character, explaining the name: ¡°Fan Through Back is modeled on the spinal vertebrae serving as the hinge of a fan. The two arms are the spread of the fan, like the shape of an open fan. The ¡°through the back¡± Í¨±³ refers to enabling the strength of the spine to ¡®penetrate through¡¯ (Í¨ tong) to the two arms." (my rough trans.)

Given this explanation, plus the fact that the character for arm both resembles that for back, and has an alternate pronunciation like that for back, may explain why these alternate form names occur. Functionally, the strength is both ¡°through the back,¡± and ¡°through the arms.¡±

I¡¯m just hypothesizing, though. This may again be a case where names were passed along in oral tradition, but were recorded based upon variant interpretations of what the names meant. There¡¯s a posture in the Chen style ¡°first lu¡± form also named ¡°shan tong bei¡± with a different shan character, ÉÁÍ¨±³, sometimes translated ¡°flash through back.¡± Then again, in the Wu/Li form, there is a form named ¡°san yong bei¡± Èýð®±³, which Jou Tsung Hwa translated ¡°three changes of the back.¡± Unlike the Chen posture, the Wu/Li posture at least remotely resembles the Yang posture.

I don¡¯t really know what to make of these variants, but I hope the data is of interest.

Thanks again for the interesting investigation. I have a question about one more variant of name's interpretation. Since "shan1" is also a verb "to fan". What do you think, is it possible that the name also means "to wave aside/ to brush aside the opponent's attack past my back" (using my upper arm)?

I agree that the action you describe is part of the movement, but I¡¯m not certain that it accounts for the name of the form, ¡°Fan Through Back.¡± I think the name is more likely based on the two arms¡¯ resemblance to the opening out of a fan, as reflected in Xu Yusheng¡¯s explanation. The splines, or spokes of the fan open out from a pivot point, and the action of the arms mimic that opening, or spreading motion, with the spine as a focal point. But as for the action of the right arm that you describe, the early text from Yang Banhou describes it well. Wile translates the line, ¡°Fan Through the back employs the skill of bracketing.¡± (T¡¯ai-chi Touchstones, p. 49). The Chinese is ¡°Shan tong bei/bi shang tuo jia gong¡± (ÉÈÍ¨±Û ÉÏÍÐ¼Ü¹¦). Note that the Chinese text uses the ¡°arm¡± character, but Wile¡¯s version has it, ¡°back.¡± It may be that the version he worked from had the ¡°back¡± character. The narrative description in both of Yang Chengfu¡¯s books, Taijiquan Shiyongfa, and Taijiquan Tiyong Quanshu, also use the verb tuo, and exactly the same phrase, ¡°support the jin of the opponent¡¯s right hand,¡± to describe the action of the right arm: ÍÐ”³ÓÒÊÖÖ®„Å¡£

You wrote: 'Notice that I use "Draw Back" where you use "Roll Back" and I use "Roll Back" for the movement before "Push."'

May I ask what the source is for your list? That seems reversed to me. "Roll Back" is the conventional translation for Lu (Redbook fig. 3.5). The shifting back of the An (Push) section is not ordinarily named separately, but it seems to me that if it were, "Draw Back" would more logically fit there.

There are some other items in your list that don't quite match up with the Chinese names. As I mentioned, that's the case with the pdf Redbook document as well.

All these names were taught to me by my first teacher who had learned from Marshall Ho'o and Tung Kai Ying. For 'Lu' I was taught to draw my right hip straight back. What I call 'Roll Back,' the backward shift, corresponding to "figure 16" in your book, was taught to me as a separate movement. My first teacher often referred to 'Ward off,' 'Draw Back,' 'Press,' 'Roll Back,' and 'Push' as the "Fabulous five." Had I my hands on a barrel that 'Roll Back' movement would roll the barrel backwards.